Party favors

So I am bit of procrastinator (sounds more like the terminator :P) when it comes to responding to emails, FB posts and the list goes on. But since writing this blog, I have come to realize that I have to own up to everything - and that includes the recipes that I promised to share on my blog :)

So after what seems like eons after the post on heat and the best drink to beat it, I present you the recipe for my fav drink of all times.  (Yes, I wrote an entire post on the heat quotient, sizzling temps and my fav drink..guess I was really delirious from the heat et. al.)

Well, here’s the perfect recipe to the fav drink of all times. I have adopted it from here. 

   Home-madey Lemonade\nimbu-pani

Ingredients: lemons, sugar, water, ice, saffron/ginger (optional)

Quick summary of the process (for quick readers): To sum up, it’s really boiling sugar and water together and mixing it with the lemon juice and water. Serve chilled over ice and that’s it to the lemonade.

For an elaborate description, read on for the steps with a sprinkling of tips here and there :)

Steps:

1. I made a ‘simple syrup’ using same qty sugar and water (yes the same syrup that you would soak Gulab jamuns in case you didn’t know). I put together ½ cup sugar and ½ cup water in a small saucepan on med-high gas

Quick Tip - you can also microwave the mixture too till the sugar dissolves in the water.

2. I added 4-5 saffron strands just after I turned off the gas and when the syrup was still warm. Saffron gives a nice hint of orange-yellow to the lemonade and a sweet aroma.

Quick Tip - I have also tried switching saffron to ginger sometimes. Take 1-inch cube of ginger and grate it or pinch between a pair of tongs to bring out the juice and flavor the syurp. Lemon-ginger combo has a unique taste.

3. I squeezed out juice from 3 lemons.

Quick Tip - Sometimes I just preferred limes over lemons ‘cause of the supremely tangy taste of limes, but then be mindful of the sugar qty if you are not going for the tangy taste.

4. In a pitcher, stir together the saffron syrup, lemon juice, 4 cups water. I skipped on the cardamom powder.

5. Serving Tip- I served the lemonade in tall glasses; it just brings a zing to the presentation. I dipped a rim of glass in water and coated it with salt (regular salt is fine if don’t have a margarita salt). 

6. Serve the lemonade chilled over ice. Add one or two lemon slices to the drink. 

When the salt and lemonade mixture hits your mouth, it’s pure bliss :)

I have another quick-fix recipe for lemonade – but I will keep it for another post.

While I am at food blogging, I wanted to post another recipe for a quick party favor - Paav-bhaji crostini
Paav-bhaji, a street side food served in Mumbai, is a spicy-n-buttery mixture of mashed veggies served with toasty bread. For Paav-bhaji, I usually trust this recipe. 

Yes, it’s as it simple as it sounds, of course when you have left over paav-bhaji sitting in your fridge. Instead of just having it regular style, why not jazz it up Italian style, eh?

As you may remember from here, I had friends over one Friday. And that led to left over paav bhaji for the next day. What did I do then? I made Paav-Bhaji crostinis :)

1. Take a paav/bread ( or a regular sandwich bread is fine) and cut small circles out of it using a cookie cutter (or a small sharp edged bowl). 
2. Apply butter on one side and toast it on a hot sizzling pan. 

3. Spread one table spoon of paav bhaji on it, sprinkle it will with some finely diced onions, tomato, coriander and some red chilli pwder for added kick. 

Tats it, my friends, your quick party favor is ready. 
We all love paav bhaji, so why not try it in a different avatar? I bet it will surprise the guests with your creativity. Hey and you can always use fresh paav bhaji, just let it come to room temp before serving (don’t want it to dampen the crispy paav crostini, do we now?;) )


So that was desi food served with an Italian twist, do you try such quirky twists in kitchen?